Wolfgang Schwamberger has shaped the BC Piccolo since 1958.
At the boxing club, which received the city's sports integration award this year, the 90-year-old was always more than just a trainer.
He made a role model, social worker and sometimes a father figure for young people.
Now he received the citizen's medal.
Fürstenfeldbruck
- The boxing ring is his living room and classroom.
He is a trainer, teacher, social worker and employment agency rolled into one.
Wolfgang Schwamberger has spent most of his 90-year life teaching young people the healthy values of an intact society.
Schwamberger has now received the Gold Gold Citizen Medal for his commitment to BC Piccolo.
When BC Piccolo is mentioned in Fürstenfeldbruck, there is no getting around the good soul of the club.
As a trainer, he not only takes care of the sporting issues of his talents, but is also a kind of father figure at the same time.
His territory was and is social hot spots like the Brucker West, where he guides young people from an endangered milieu into the middle of society and into the boxing ring.
Honoring Schwamberger with the citizen's medal was actually long overdue.
Because since 1958, alongside club president Manfred Kaltenhäuser (80) - whom “the mushroom” once recruited - he has shaped the positive image of a sport that is still not entirely undisputed, and which was even banned by the police in Germany until 1918.
But boxing and fighting are not just an aggressive form of physical confrontation for Schwamberger.
For the 90-year-old, fighting also means fighting for life.
Social hotspots
And for many young people in socially disadvantaged areas, this struggle begins as a child. When he was still cycling as a postman through the then notorious district in the west of Bruck, the tireless boxing trainer recognized this and kept looking for a conversation. And not only with children from so-called guest worker families, but also with young people whose German parents were not supported by the social network. Schwamberger's motto: Get off the street, into the ring. And thus also under his wing.
Strictly but fairly, the trainer has not only monitored compliance with sporting rules and fairness for decades. Above all, he keeps an eye on the academic performance of his entrusted persons. "If you do not present a decent certificate, you are not allowed to box!" This announcement is understood in every corner of the ring. Especially since Schwamberger has his protégés under control not only in training.
So it happened that the instructor suddenly stood in front of the apartment door to check compliance with the rules or to change a few bars with the parents.
"There were actually some who I had to teach them to eat with a knife and fork first." Schwamberger also went to school principals and teachers to inquire about the learning behavior and behavior of his entrusted persons - always with the express permission of the legal guardians, of course who, in most cases, were delighted that a volunteer sports official was there to advise them.
"I hardly ever had any problems with my parents."
They all took part
What Schwamberger is still particularly proud of: “Nobody stepped out of line, everyone took part.” This was rewarded not only on a sporting level with countless Bavarian, German or even international championship titles.
Most Piccolo kids have also achieved something professionally.
This is why Schwamberger still has excellent contacts to bank managers, financial advisors, lawyers and brokers who have attended his boxing school of life and who call regularly.
There is also still contact with Artur Abraham, the boxing world champion from Armenia, whose first supervisor in Germany was the Brucker trainer legend.
Now that his health has recovered a little and shows up in the training cellar of the North School as often as possible, the otherwise always modest Schwamberger is a little proud that his life's work has been gilded with the citizen's medal.
But for him it is even more important: “It's nice that all my children still know me.” And that must have been several hundred over the course of his 61 years at BC Piccolo.
OB: "Award is more than fair"
The great merits of Wolfgang Schwamberger are undisputed. For this reason, after the culture committee, the city council also voted unanimously for the award of the citizen's medal in gold. Mayor Erich Raff made the award, accompanied by great applause from the city council and audience. "If anyone is associated with boxing in Fürstenfeldbruck, then it is Wolfgang Schwamberger," said Raff. For this reason, it is more than fair that he is proposed after more than 60 years. "Raff wished the veteran coach who was at BC Piccolo has withdrawn a little, all the best. Piccolo President Manfred Kaltenhäuser added that one has always motivated each other to continue running the association. “Without us, the club wouldn't exist like this.” Imu